[WATCH] Self-styled mystic sees baby Jesus in blanket

Self-styled mystic Angelik Caruana, who claims to have visions of the Virgin Mary, had a festive ‘vision’ on Christmas Eve, with baby Jesus apparently appearing in a blanket held by Caruana.

In a video posted on Youtube, Caruana can be seen lifting the blanket up to a shrine of the Madonna at Borg in-Nadur, Birzebbuga, before beaming at it and kissing it.

Cradling the blanket as though it were a baby, Caruana descended the hill and allowed his swarm of followers to kiss the blanket as they sang the traditional Maltese Christmas song ‘Nini la tibkix izjed’. Some of his followers could be heard crying after kissing the blanket.

Caruana holds regular activities at the Borg in-Nadur shrine, some of which have attracted hundreds of listeners. In 2006, Caruana claimed that a statue of the Madonna in his home had begun oozing blood. However, an internal Curia document had later found that the blood on the statue had in fact been human blood, allegedly belonging to Caruana himself.

The Church has distanced itself from Caruana and, in 2012, they ordered him to stop announcing and interpreting his ‘visions’ to the public, restricting him to monthly activities at Borg in-Nadur.

Caruana was once involved in a minor security breach at the Vatican, when he climbed over a security barrier at the Paul XI hall to deliver a letter to then-Pope Benedict XVI. According to Vatican press chief Fr Ciro Benedettini, the letter was taken by Vatican officials and contained “devotional messages”.